Holding pictures of his dead sons, David Lin arrives to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department press conference with his attorney Rose Tsai on Friday, April 15, 2016 after Deyun Shi was taken into custody. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/Pasadena Star-News)

Deyun Shi, who is accused of attacking his wife in their La Canada Flintridge home and beating to death his two nephews in Arcadia. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz/Pasadena Star-News)

ARCADIA >> A man accused of fatally beating his two nephews with a bolt cutter in Arcadia and attacking his estranged wife in La Cañada Flintridge with a wood-splitting tool is headed for a psychiatric hospital instead of a courtroom.

Judge Roberto Longoria of the Mental Health Courthouse ruled Jan. 11 that 45-year-old Deyun Shi is mentally incompetent to stand trial, according to Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.

She said Shi will get treatment at Patton State Hospital, a forensic psychiatric hospital in San Bernardino County.

Being mentally incompetent means a defendant can’t cooperate with his attorney in his own defense or he doesn’t understand the nature of the proceedings due to mental illness, developmental disability or both.

The defense raised the issue of Shi’s mental competency July 11, which put the criminal case on hold.

The criminal case against Shi will resume if he is later deemed competent, Ardalani said.

The next court date on the case is April 18 for a status report and hearing at Pasadena Superior Court.

The DA’s Office charged Shi with the Jan. 22, 2016, murders of 15-year-old Anthony Lin and 16-year-old William Lin in the 400 block of Fairview Avenue in Arcadia. The prosecution also charged Shi with injuring his estranged wife, Yujing Lin, during an assault Jan. 21, 2016, at their La Cañada Flintridge home.

After the double homicide, he fled to Hong Kong where local authorities took him into custody when he arrived. He was extradited back to the U.S.

Detectives think marital problems may have led to the assault and double homicide.

Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Eddie Hernandez said Shi found out his wife wanted a divorce at a court hearing on Jan. 21, 2016.

Court records also show Yujing Lin filed for a temporary restraining order against Shi on Dec. 31, 2015, alleging domestic violence. Claiming elder abuse, Shi’s mother-in-law filed for a restraining order against him the same day.

Hernandez said Shi was served with a temporary restraining order on Jan. 7, 2016, then later had to move out of the couple’s house. He said Shi stayed with a friend and at motels in the San Gabriel Valley.

Shi allegedly broke into his former home Jan. 21, 2016, and attacked his wife with a maul or wood-splitting hammer. Hernandez said the couple’s 15-year-old son intervened. Shi fled the scene.

Yujing Lin ended up in a hospital. Her brother, David Lin, and his wife, Vickey Huang, went to check on her at the hospital.

Detectives alleged Shi turned up the next day at David Lin’s home in Arcadia and killed his nephews with a bolt cutter. Shi then headed to the airport and took a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, according to Hernandez.

Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.